Search

We present the discovery of NGTS-7Ab, a high mass brown dwarf transiting an M dwarf with a period of 16.2 hours, discovered as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). This is the shortest period transiting brown dwarf around a main or pre-main sequence star to date. The M star host (NGTS-7A) has an age of roughly 55 Myr and is in a state of spin-orbit synchronisation, which we attribute to tidal interaction with the brown dwarf acting to spin up the star. The host star is magnetically active and shows multiple flares across the NGTS and follow up lightcurves, which we use to probe the flare-starspot phase relation. The host star also has an M star companion at a separation of 1.13 arcseconds with very similar proper motion and systemic velocity, suggesting the NGTS-7 system is a hierarchical triple. The combination of tidal synchronisation and magnetic braking is expected to drive ongoing decay of the brown dwarf orbit, with a remaining lifetime of only 5-10 Myr., Comment: 21 pages, 16 figures, accepted for publication in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

The most abundant stars in the Galaxy, M dwarfs, are very commonly hosts to diverse systems of low-mass planets. Their abundancy implies that the general occurrence rate of planets is dominated by their occurrence rate around such M dwarfs. In this article, we combine the M dwarf surveys conducted with the HIRES/Keck, PFS/Magellan, HARPS/ESO, and UVES/VLT instruments supported with data from several other instruments. We analyse the radial velocities of an approximately volume- and brightness-limited sample of 426 nearby M dwarfs in order to search for Doppler signals of cadidate planets. In addition, we analyse spectroscopic activity indicators and ASAS photometry to rule out radial velocity signals corresponding to stellar activity as Doppler signals of planets. We calculate estimates for the occurrence rate of planets around the sample stars and study the properties of this occurrence rate as a function of stellar properties. Our analyses reveal a total of 118 candidate planets orbiting nearby M dwarfs. Based on our results accounting for selection effects and sample detection threshold, we estimate that M dwarfs have on average at least 2.39$^{+4.58}_{-1.36}$ planets per star orbiting them. Accounting for the different sensitivities of radial velocity surveys and Kepler transit photometry implies that there are at least 3.0 planets per star orbiting M dwarfs. We also present evidence for a population of cool mini-Neptunes and Neptunes with indications that they are found an order of magnitude more frequently orbiting the least massive M dwarfs in our sample., Comment: Manuscript submitted to AAS journals. 338 pages, including 66 pages of tables summarising data properties, target properties, and selected parameter estimates

L 98-59 (TIC 307210830, TOI-175) is a nearby M3 dwarf around which TESS revealed three terrestrial-sized transiting planets (0.80, 1.35, 1.57 Earth radii) in a compact configuration with orbital periods shorter than 7.5 days. Here we aim to measure the masses of the known transiting planets in this system using precise radial velocity (RV) measurements taken with the HARPS spectrograph. We consider both trained and untrained Gaussian process regression models of stellar activity to simultaneously model the RV data with the planetary signals. Our RV analysis is then supplemented with dynamical simulations to provide strong constraints on the planets' orbital eccentricities by requiring long-term stability. We measure the planet masses of the two outermost planets to be $2.46\pm 0.31$ and $2.26\pm 0.50$ Earth masses which confirms their bulk terrestrial compositions. We are able to place an upper limit on the mass of the smallest, innermost planet of $<0.98$ Earth masses with 95% confidence. Our RV plus dynamical stability analysis places strong constraints on the orbital eccentricities and reveals that each planet's orbit likely has $e<0.1$ to ensure a dynamically stable system. The L 98-59 compact system of three likely rocky planets offers a unique laboratory for studies of planet formation, dynamical stability, and comparative atmospheric planetology. Continued RV monitoring will help refine the characterization of the innermost planet and potentially reveal additional planets in the system at wider separations., Comment: Submitted to the A&A journal. 12 pages, 7 figures, 4 tables. Comments welcome

Context: Planetary population analysis gives us insight into formation and evolution processes. For short-period planets, the subJovian desert has been discussed in recent years with regard to the planet population in the mass/period and radius/period parameter space without taking stellar parameters into account. The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS) is optimised for detecting planets in this regime, which allows for further analysis of the sub-Jovian desert. Aims: With high-precision photometric surveys (e.g. with NGTS and TESS), which aim to detect short period planets especially around M/K-type host stars, stellar parameters need to be accounted for when empirical data are compared to model predictions. Presenting a newly discovered planet at the boundary of the sub-Jovian desert, we analyse its bulk properties and use it to show the properties of exoplanets that border the sub-Jovian desert. Methods: Using NGTS light curve and spectroscopic follow-up observations, we confirm the planetary nature of planet NGTS-5b and determine its mass. Using exoplanet archives, we set the planet in context with other discoveries. Results: NGTS-5b is a short-period planet with an orbital period of 3.3569866 +- 0.0000026 days. With a mass of 0.229 +- 0.037 MJup and a radius of 1.136 +- 0.023 RJup, it is highly inflated. Its mass places it at the upper boundary of the sub-Jovian desert. Because the host is a K2 dwarf, we need to account for the stellar parameters when NGTS-5b is analysed with regard to planet populations. Conclusions: With red-sensitive surveys (e.g. with NGTS and TESS), we expect many more planets around late-type stars to be detected. An empirical analysis of the sub-Jovian desert should therefore take stellar parameters into account., Comment: 10 pages, 12 figures, accepted for publication in A&A

We report Spitzer Space Telescope observations during predicted transits of the exoplanet Proxima Centauri b. As the nearest terrestrial habitable-zone planet we will ever discover, any potential transit of Proxima b would place strong constraints on its radius, bulk density, and atmosphere. Subsequent transmission spectroscopy and secondary-eclipse measurements could then probe the atmospheric chemistry, physical processes, and orbit, including a search for biosignatures. However, our photometric results rule out planetary transits at the 200~ppm level at 4.5$~{\mu}m$, yielding a 3$\sigma$ upper radius limit of 0.4~$R_\rm{\oplus}$ (Earth radii). Previous claims of possible transits from optical ground- and space-based photometry were likely correlated noise in the data from Proxima Centauri's frequent flaring. Follow-up observations should focus on planetary radio emission, phase curves, and direct imaging. Our study indicates dramatically reduced stellar activity at near-to-mid infrared wavelengths, compared to the optical. Proxima b is an ideal target for space-based infrared telescopes, if their instruments can be configured to handle Proxima's brightness., Comment: 8 pages, 3 figures, 2 tables, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We demonstrate that the previously identified L/T transition brown dwarf SDSS J213154.43-011939.3 (SDSS 2131-0119) is a widely separated (82.3'', $\sim$3830 au) common proper motion companion to the low-mass star NLTT 51469, which we reveal to be a close binary itself, separated by 0.64''$\pm$0.01'' ($\sim$30 au). We find the proper motion of SDSS 2131-0119 of $\mu_{\alpha}\cos\delta=-100\pm20$, $\mu_{\delta}=-230\pm20$ mas/yr consistent with the proper motion of the primary provided by Gaia DR2: $\mu_{\alpha}\cos\delta=-95.49\pm0.96$, $\mu_{\delta}=-239.38\pm0.96$ mas/yr. Based on optical and near-infrared spectroscopy we classify NLTT 51469A as a M3$\pm$1 dwarf, estimate photometrically the spectral type of its close companion NLTT 51469B at $\sim$M6 and confirm the spectral type of the brown dwarf to be L9$\pm$1. Using radial velocity, proper motion and parallax we derived the $UVW$ space velocities of NLTT 51469A, showing that the system does not belong to any known young stellar moving group. The high $V, W$ velocities, lack of 670.8 nm Li I absorption line, and absence of H$\alpha$ emission, detected X-rays or UV excess, indicate that the system is likely a member of the thin disk population and is older than 1 Gyr. For the parallactic distance of $46.6\pm1.6$ pc from Gaia DR2 we determined luminosities of $-1.50^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$ and $-4.4\pm0.1$ dex of the M3 and L9, respectively. Considering the spectrophotometric estimation which yields a slightly lower distance of $34^{+10}_{-13}$ pc the obtained luminosities are $-1.78^{+0.02}_{-0.04}$ and $-4.7^{+0.3}_{-0.5}$ dex. We also estimated their effective temperatures and masses, and obtained 3410$^{+140}_{-210}$ K and $0.42\pm0.02 M_{\odot}$ for the primary, and 1400-1650 K and $0.05-0.07 M_{\odot}$ for the wide companion. For the $\sim$M6 component we estimated $T_{eff}=2850\pm200 K$ and $m=0.10^{+0.06}_{-0.01} M_{\odot}$., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the discovery of a new ultra-short period hot Jupiter from the Next Generation Transit Survey. NGTS-6b orbits its star with a period of 21.17~h, and has a mass and radius of $1.330^{+0.024}_{-0.028}$\mjup\, and $1.271^{+0.197}_{-0.188}$\rjup\, respectively, returning a planetary bulk density of 0.711$^{+0.214}_{-0.136}$~g~cm$^{-3}$. Conforming to the currently known small population of ultra-short period hot Jupiters, the planet appears to orbit a metal-rich star ([Fe/H]$=+0.11\pm0.09$~dex). Photoevaporation models suggest the planet should have lost 5\% of its gaseous atmosphere over the course of the 9.6~Gyrs of evolution of the system. NGTS-6b adds to the small, but growing list of ultra-short period gas giant planets, and will help us to understand the dominant formation and evolutionary mechanisms that govern this population., Comment: 10 pages, 11 figures. Paper accepted for publication in MNRAS

We describe a new method to derive clean, iodine-free spectra directly from observations acquired using high-resolution echelle spectrographs equipped with iodine cells. The main motivation to obtain iodine-free spectra is to use portions of the spectrum that are superimposed with the dense forest of iodine absorption lines, in order to retrieve lines that can be used to monitor the magnetic activity of the star, helping to validate candidate planets. In short, we provide a straight-forward methodology to clean the spectra by using the forward model used to derive radial velocities, the Line Spread Function information plus the stellar spectrum without iodine to reconstruct and subtract the iodine spectrum from the observations. We show our results using observations of the star $\tau$ Ceti acquired with the PFS, HIRES and UCLES spectrographs, reaching an iodine-free spectrum correction at the $\sim$1% RMS level. We additionally discuss the limitations and further applications of the method., Comment: 15 pages, 7 figures. Accepted for publication in AJ

We report the discovery of the 1.008-day, ultra-short period (USP) super-Earth HD 213885b (TOI-141b) orbiting the bright ($V=7.9$) star HD 213885 (TOI-141, TIC 403224672), detected using photometry from the recently launched TESS mission. Using FEROS, HARPS and CORALIE radial-velocities, we measure a precise mass of $8.8\pm0.6$ $M_\oplus$ for this $1.74 \pm 0.05$ $R_\oplus$ exoplanet, which provides enough information to constrain its bulk composition, which is similar to Earth's but enriched in iron. The radius, mass and stellar irradiation of HD 213885b are, given our data, very similar to 55 Cancri e, making this exoplanet a good target to perform comparative exoplanetology of short period, highly irradiated super-Earths. Our precise radial-velocities reveal an additional $4.78$-day signal which we interpret as arising from a second, non-transiting planet in the system, HD 213885c (TOI-141c), whose minimum mass of $19.95\pm 1.4$ $M_\oplus$ makes it consistent with being a Neptune-mass exoplanet. The HD 213885 system is very interesting from the perspective of future atmospheric characterization, being the second brightest star to host an ultra-short period transiting super-Earth (with the brightest star being, in fact, 55 Cancri). Prospects for characterization with present and future observatories are discussed., Comment: MNRAS accepted version

Context. We report the results from the determination of stellar masses, carbon and oxygen abundances in the atmospheres of 107 stars from the CHEPS program. Our stars are drawn from a population with a significantly super-solar metallicity. At least 10 of these stars are known to host orbiting planets. Aims. In this work, we set out to understand the behavior of carbon and oxygen abundance in stars with different spectral classes, metallicities and V sin i , within the metal-rich stellar population. Methods. Masses of these stars were determined using the data from Gaia DR2 release. The oxygen and carbon abundances were determined by fitting the absorption lines. Oxygen abundances were determined by fits to the 6300.304 A O I line and for the determination of the carbon abundances we used 3 lines of the C I atom and 12 lines of C2 molecule. Results. We determine masses and abundances of 107 CHEPS stars. There is no evidence that the [C/O] ratio depends on V sin i or the mass of the star, within our constrained range of masses, i.e. 0.82 < Mstar/Msun < 1.5 and metallicities -0.27 < [Fe=H] < +0.39 and we confirm that metal-rich dwarf stars with planets are more carbon-rich in comparison with non-planet host stars, with a statistical signifcance of 96%. Conclusions. We find tentative evidence that there is a slight offset to lower abundance and a greater dispersion in oxygen abundances relative to carbon, and interpret this as potentially arising from the production of the oxygen being more effective at more metal-poor epochs. We also find evidence that for lower mass star's the angular momentum loss in star's with planets as measured by V sin i is steeper than star's without planets. In general, we find that the fast rotators (V sin i > 5 km/s) are massive stars., Comment: 14 pages, 14 Figs, 7 Tables, accepted by AA

We report the discovery of a transiting planet first identified as a candidate in Sector 1 of the Transiting Exoplanet Survey Satellite (TESS), and then confirmed with precision radial velocities. HD1397b has a mass of ${\rm M_P}$ = $0.335_{-0.018}^{+0.018}$ ${\rm M_J}$, a radius of ${\rm R_P}$ = $1.021_{-0.014}^{+0.015}$ ${\rm M_J}$, and orbits its bright host star ($V = 7.8$ mag) with an orbital period of $11.53508 \pm 0.00057 $ d, on a moderately eccentric orbit ($e$ = 0.210 $\pm$ 0.038). With a mass of ${\rm M}_{\star}$ = $1.284_{-0.016}^{+0.020}$ ${\rm M}_{J}$, a radius of ${\rm R}_{\star}$ = 2.314$_{-0.042}^{+0.049}$ ${\rm R_J}$, and an age of 4.7 $\pm$ 0.2 Gyr, the solar metallicity host star has already departed from the main sequence. We find evidence in the radial velocity measurements for a long term acceleration, and a $P \approx 18$ d periodic signal that we attribute to rotational modulation by stellar activity. The HD1397 system is among the brightest systems currently known to host a transiting planet, which will make it possible to perform detailed follow-up observations in order to characterize the properties of giant planets orbiting evolved stars., Comment: 15 pages, submitted to AJ

We present the detection of an energetic flare on the pre-main sequence M3 star NGTS J121939.5-355557, which we estimate as only 2 Myr old. The flare had an energy of $3.2\pm^{0.4}_{0.3}\times 10^{36}$erg and a fractional amplitude of $7.2\pm0.8$, making it one of the most energetic flares seen on an M star. The star is also X-ray active, in the saturated regime with $log L_{X}/L_{Bol} = -3.1$. In the flare peak we have identified multi-mode quasi-periodic pulsations formed of two statistically significant periods of approximately 320 and 660 seconds. This flare is one of the largest amplitude events to exhibit such pulsations. The shorter period mode is observed to start after a short-lived spike in flux lasting around 30 seconds, which would not have been resolved in Kepler or TESS short cadence modes. Our data shows how the high cadence of NGTS can be used to apply solar techniques to stellar flares and identify potential causes of the observed oscillations. We also discuss the implications of this flare for the habitability of planets around M star hosts and how NGTS can aid in our understanding of this., Comment: 15 pages, 10 figures, Accepted for Publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

We present new results from the Parallaxes of Southern Extremely Cool dwarfs program to measure parallaxes, proper motions and multi-epoch photometry of L and early T dwarfs. The observations were made on 108 nights over the course of 8 years using the Wide Field Imager on the ESO 2.2m telescope. We present 118 new parallaxes of L \& T dwarfs of which 52 have no published values and 24 of the 66 published values are preliminary estimates from this program. The parallax precision varies from 1.0 to 15.5 mas with a median of 3.8 mas. We find evidence for 2 objects with long term photometric variation and 24 new moving group candidates. We cross-match our sample to published photometric catalogues and find standard magnitudes in up to 16 pass-bands from which we build spectral energy distributions and H-R diagrams. This allows us to confirm the theoretically anticipated minimum in radius between stars and brown dwarfs across the hydrogen burning minimum mass. We find the minimum occurs between L2 and L6 and verify the predicted steep dependence of radius in the hydrogen burning regime and the gentle rise into the degenerate brown dwarf regime. We find a relatively young age of 2 Gyr from the kinematics of our sample., Comment: In press MNRAS

Chiral pumping from optical electric fields oscillating at THz frequencies is observed in the Weyl material TaAs with electric and magnetic fields aligned along both the a- and c-axes. Free carrier spectral weight enhancement is measured directly for the first time, confirming theoretical expectations of chiral pumping. A departure from linear field-dependence of the Drude weight is observed at the highest fields in the quantum limit, providing direct evidence of field-dependent Fermi velocity of the chiral Landau level. Implications for the chiral magnetic effect in Weyl semimetals from the optical f-sum rule are discussed.

We report the discovery of K2-287b, a Saturn mass planet orbiting a G-dwarf with a period of $P \approx 15$ days. First uncovered as a candidate using K2 campaign 15 data, follow-up photometry and spectroscopy were used to determine a mass of $M_P = 0.317 \pm 0.026$ $M_J$, radius $R_P = 0.833 \pm 0.013$ $R_J$, period $P = 14.893291 \pm 0.000025$ days and eccentricity $e = 0.476 \pm 0.026$. The host star is a metal-rich $V=11.410 \pm 0.129$ mag G dwarf for which we estimate a mass $M_* = 1.056$ $M_\odot$, radius $R_* = 1.07 \pm 0.01$ $R_\odot$, metallicity [Fe/H] = $0.20 \pm 0.05$ and $T_{eff} = 5673 \pm 75$ K. This warm eccentric planet with a time-averaged equilibrium temperature of $T_{eq} \approx 800$ K adds to the small sample of giant planets orbiting nearby stars whose structure is not expected to be affected by stellar irradiation. Follow-up studies on the K2-287 system could help in constraining theories of migration of planets in close-in orbits., Comment: Accepted in the Astronomical Journal. 9 figures, 3 tables

We report the discovery of NGTS-4b, a sub-Neptune-sized planet transiting a 13th magnitude K-dwarf in a 1.34d orbit. NGTS-4b has a mass M=$20.6\pm3.0$M_E and radius R=$3.18\pm0.26$R_E, which places it well within the so-called "Neptunian Desert". The mean density of the planet ($3.45\pm0.95$g/cm^3) is consistent with a composition of 100% H$_2$O or a rocky core with a volatile envelope. NGTS-4b is likely to suffer significant mass loss due to relatively strong EUV/X-ray irradiation. Its survival in the Neptunian desert may be due to an unusually high core mass, or it may have avoided the most intense X-ray irradiation by migrating after the initial activity of its host star had subsided. With a transit depth of $0.13\pm0.02$%, NGTS-4b represents the shallowest transiting system ever discovered from the ground, and is the smallest planet discovered in a wide-field ground-based photometric survey., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS

We have discovered a new, near-equal mass, eclipsing M dwarf binary from the Next Generation Transit Survey. This system is only one of 3 field age ($>$ 1 Gyr), late M dwarf eclipsing binaries known, and has a period of 1.74774 days, similar to that of CM~Dra and KOI126. Modelling of the eclipses and radial velocities shows that the component masses are $M_{\rm pri}$=0.17391$^{+0.00153}_{0.00099}$ $M_{\odot}$, $M_{\rm sec}$=0.17418$^{+0.00193}_{-0.00059}$ $M_{\odot}$; radii are $R_{\rm pri}$=0.2045$^{+0.0038}_{-0.0058}$ $R_{\odot}$, $R_{\rm sec}$=0.2168$^{+0.0047}_{-0.0048}$ $R_{\odot}$. The effective temperatures are $T_{\rm pri} = 2995\,^{+85}_{-105}$ K and $T_{\rm sec} = 2997\,^{+66}_{-101}$ K, consistent with M5 dwarfs and broadly consistent with main sequence models. This pair represents a valuable addition which can be used to constrain the mass-radius relation at the low mass end of the stellar sequence., Comment: 12 pages, 9 Figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report the direct detection of a fully convective, early-to-mid M-dwarf companion orbiting the star HD 86006, using ESO-SPHERE during Science Verification as part of the SAFARI program. HARPS+CORALIE radial velocity measurements first indicated a possible companion. Such work highlights the synergies that are now possible between these two observing methods. We studied the companion by comparing our observed spectra with BT-Settl models and template spectra, measuring spectral indices to obtain a spectral type, and used a joint radial velocity and astrometric fit to simulate the companion's orbit. The companion was found to be 4.14 mag fainter than the primary in the H2 band, residing at a physical separation of $\sim$ 25 AU, with a $T_\mathrm{eff}$ and spectral type of 3321 $\pm$ 111 K and M 4.1 $\pm$ 1.1, respectively. We note that the age derived from BT-Settl models for such a star is too low by over two orders of magnitude, similar to other known field mid-M stars. We searched for the radial velocity companion to HD 90520 without any clear detection, however we reached a low contrast level of $\Delta$H2 = 10.3 mag (or $1.3 * 10^{-4}$) at 0.2$''$ and 12.6 mag (or $10^{-5}$) at 0.5$''$, allowing us to rule out any low-mass companions with masses of 0.07 and 0.05 M$_{\odot}$ at these separations. This discovery provides us with the exciting opportunity to better constrain the mass-luminosity relation for low-mass stars in the super metal-rich domain, expanding our understanding of the most-common types of stars and substellar objects., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS

As the Internet of Things (IoT) becomes more integral to how we live our lives and society becomes ever increasingly connected, the need for efficient nanoscale radio frequency detection is becoming more of a pressing issue. The commonly used technique of a superheterodyne conversion of the incoming signal to an intermediate frequency (IF), requires a relatively large electronic circuit, including a local oscillator, mixer, various filters and a rectifier (i.e. diode). In order to radically simplify this process, we propose a spintronics-based nanometric single device whose resistance varies linearly as a function of the incoming frequency. This analogue frequency sensor allows a direct measurement of the incoming frequency and can work over many frequency bands and could replace a significantly larger conventional electronics circuit, thus reducing the footprint and potentially the energy cost. Three types of operation of the frequency sensor are demonstrated: a HF/VHF sensor based on a subharmonic modulation working across 9 different bands with 1-10 MHz bandwidth and 200 kHz resolution, a VHF/UHF sensor based on direct gyrotropic excitation operating between 150-225MHz with 250 kHz resolution and a UHF/SHF sensor based on indirect spin wave excitation operating between 2-4GHz with a 2.5 MHz resolution.

We report the discovery of EPIC 201498078b, which was first identified as a planetary candidate from Kepler K2 photometry of Campaign 14, and whose planetary nature and orbital parameters were then confirmed with precision radial velocities. EPIC 201498078b is half as massive as Saturn ($\rm M_P$=$0.179 \pm 0.021$ $\rm M_J$), and has a radius of $\rm R_P$=$0.840 \pm 0.011$ $\rm R_J$, which translates into a bulk density of $ \rm \rho_P$=$0.37 \pm 0.05$ g cm$^{-3}$. EPIC 201498078b transits its slightly evolved G-type host star ($\rm M_{\star}$=$1.105 \pm 0.019$ $\rm M_{\odot}$, $\rm R_P$=$1.669 \pm 0.022$ $\rm R_{\odot}$) every $11.63364 \pm 0.00010$ days and presents a significantly eccentric orbit ($e=0.420 \pm 0.034$). We estimate a relatively short circularization timescale of 1.8 Gyr for the planet, but given the advanced age of the system we expect the planet to be engulfed by its evolving host star in $\sim 1$ Gyr before the orbit circularizes. The low density of the planet coupled to the brightness of the host star ($J=9.4$) makes this system one of the best candidates known to date in the super-Neptune regime for atmospheric characterization via transmission spectroscopy, and to further study the transition region between ice and gas giant planets., Comment: submitted to MNRAS, 11 pages, 10 figures

We report the discovery of NGTS-2b, an inflated hot-Jupiter transiting a bright F5V star (2MASS J14202949-3112074; $T_{\rm eff}$=$6478^{+94}_{-89}$ K), discovered as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The planet is in a P=4.51 day orbit with mass $0.74^{+0.13}_{-0.12}$ M$_{J}$, radius $1.595^{+0.047}_{-0.045}$ R$_{J}$ and density $0.226^{+0.040}_{-0.038}$ g cm$^{-3}$; therefore one of the lowest density exoplanets currently known. With a relatively deep 1.0% transit around a bright V=10.96 host star, NGTS-2b is a prime target for probing giant planet composition via atmospheric transmission spectroscopy. The rapid rotation ($vsin$i=$15.2\pm0.8$ km s$^{-1}$) also makes this system an excellent candidate for Rossiter-McLaughlin follow-up observations, to measure the sky-projected stellar obliquity. NGTS-2b was confirmed without the need for follow-up photometry, due to the high precision of the NGTS photometry., Comment: 12 pages, 8 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

State of the art exoplanet transit surveys are producing ever increasing quantities of data. To make the best use of this resource, in detecting interesting planetary systems or in determining accurate planetary population statistics, requires new automated methods. Here we describe a machine learning algorithm that forms an integral part of the pipeline for the NGTS transit survey, demonstrating the efficacy of machine learning in selecting planetary candidates from multi-night ground based survey data. Our method uses a combination of random forests and self-organising-maps to rank planetary candidates, achieving an AUC score of 97.6\% in ranking 12368 injected planets against 27496 false positives in the NGTS data. We build on past examples by using injected transit signals to form a training set, a necessary development for applying similar methods to upcoming surveys. We also make the \texttt{autovet} code used to implement the algorithm publicly accessible. \texttt{autovet} is designed to perform machine learned vetting of planetary candidates, and can utilise a variety of methods. The apparent robustness of machine learning techniques, whether on space-based or the qualitatively different ground-based data, highlights their importance to future surveys such as TESS and PLATO and the need to better understand their advantages and pitfalls in an exoplanetary context., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS, 15 pages

We present the discovery of NGTS-3Ab, a hot Jupiter found transiting the primary star of an unresolved binary system. We develop a joint analysis of multi-colour photometry, centroids, radial velocity (RV) cross-correlation function (CCF) profiles and their bisector inverse slopes (BIS) to disentangle this three-body system. Data from the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), SPECULOOS and HARPS are analysed and modelled with our new blendfitter software. We find that the binary consists of NGTS-3A (G6V-dwarf) and NGTS-3B (K1V-dwarf) at <1 arcsec separation. NGTS-3Ab orbits every P = 1.675 days. The planet radius and mass are R_planet = 1.48+-0.37 R_J and M_planet = 2.38+-0.26 M_J, suggesting it is potentially inflated. We emphasise that only combining all the information from multi-colour photometry, centroids and RV CCF profiles can resolve systems like NGTS-3. Such systems cannot be disentangled from single-colour photometry and RV measurements alone. Importantly, the presence of a BIS correlation indicates a blend scenario, but is not sufficient to determine which star is orbited by the third body. Moreover, even if no BIS correlation is detected, a blend scenario cannot be ruled out without further information. The choice of methodology for calculating the BIS can influence the measured significance of its correlation. The presented findings are crucial to consider for wide-field transit surveys, which require wide CCD pixels (>5 arcsec) and are prone to contamination by blended objects. With TESS on the horizon, it is pivotal for the candidate vetting to incorporate all available follow-up information from multi-colour photometry and RV CCF profiles., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS 2 May 2018. 20 pages, 11 figures, 9 tables. This is the authors' version of the manuscript

In this paper, the perpendicular magnetic anisotropy (PMA) is tailored by changing the thickness of the free layer with the objective of producing MTJ nano-pillars with smooth linear resistance dependence with both in-plane magnetic field and DC bias. We furthermore demonstrate how this linear bias dependence can be used to create a zero-threshold broadband voltage rectifier, a feature which is important for rectification in wireless charging and energy harvesting applications. By carefully balancing the amount of PMA acting in the free layer the measured RF to DC voltage conversion efficiency can be made as large as 11%., Comment: 7 pages and 4 figures

We present high cadence detections of two superflares from a bright G8 star (V = 11.56) with the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). We improve upon previous superflare detections by resolving the flare rise and peak, allowing us to fit a solar flare inspired model without the need for arbitrary break points between rise and decay. Our data also enables us to identify substructure in the flares. From changing starspot modulation in the NGTS data we detect a stellar rotation period of 59 hours, along with evidence for differential rotation. We combine this rotation period with the observed \textit{ROSAT} X-ray flux to determine that the star's X-ray activity is saturated. We calculate the flare bolometric energies as $5.4^{+0.8}_{-0.7}\times10^{34}$ and $2.6^{+0.4}_{-0.3}\times10^{34}$ erg and compare our detections with G star superflares detected in the \textit{Kepler} survey. We find our main flare to be one of the largest amplitude superflares detected from a bright G star. With energies more than 100 times greater than the Carrington event, our flare detections demonstrate the role that ground-based instruments such as NGTS can have in assessing the habitability of Earth-like exoplanets, particularly in the era of \textit{PLATO}., Comment: 11 pages, 8 figures, Accepted for Publication in Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

In this paper, a 3-terminal spin-transfer torque nano-oscillator (STNO) is studied using the concurrent spin injection of a spin-polarized tunneling current and a spin Hall current exciting the free layer into dynamic regimes beyond what is achieved by each individual mechanism. The pure spin injection is capable of inducing oscillations in the absence of charge currents effectively reducing the critical tunneling current to zero. This reduction of the critical charge currents can improve the endurance of both STNOs and non-volatile magnetic memories (MRAM) devices. It is shown that the system response can be described in terms of an injected spin current density $J_s$ which results from the contribution of both spin injection mechanisms, with the tunneling current polarization $p$ and the spin Hall angle $\theta$ acting as key parameters determining the efficiency of each injection mechanism. The experimental data exhibits an excellent agreement with this model which can be used to quantitatively predict the critical points ($J_s = -2.26\pm 0.09 \times 10^9 \hbar/e$ A/m$^2$) and the oscillation amplitude as a function of the input currents. In addition, the fitting of the data also allows an independent confirmation of the values estimated for the spin Hall angle and tunneling current polarization as well as the extraction of the damping $\alpha = 0.01$ and non-linear damping $Q = 3.8\pm 0.3$ parameters., Comment: 8pages, 4 figures

The detection and subsequent characterisation of exoplanets are intimately linked to the characteristics of their host star. Therefore, it is necessary to study the star in detail in order to understand the formation history and characteristics of their companion(s). Our aims were to develop a community tool that allows the automated calculation of stellar parameters for a large number of stars, using high resolution echelle spectra and minimal photometric magnitudes, and introduce the first results in this work. We measured the equivalent widths of several iron lines and used them to solve the radiative transfer equation assuming local thermodynamic equilibrium to obtain the atmospheric parameters ($T_{\text{eff}}$, [Fe/H], logg and $\xi_t$). We used these values to derive the abundance of 11 chemical elements in the stellar photosphere (Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Ni, Cu and Zn). Rotation and macroturbulent velocity were obtained using temperature calibrators and synthetic line profiles to match the observed spectra of five absorption lines. Finally, by interpolating in a grid of MIST isochrones, we derived the mass, radius and age using a Bayesian approach. SPECIES obtains bulk parameters that are in good agreement with measured values from different existing catalogues, including when different methods are used to derive them. We find excellent agreement with previous works that used similar methodologies. We find discrepancies in the chemical abundances for some elements with respect to other works, which could be produced by differences in $T_{\text{eff}}$, or in the line list or the atomic line data used to derive them. We also obtained analytic relations to describe the correlations between different parameters, and we implemented new methods to better handle these correlations, which provides a better description of the uncertainties associated with the measurements., Comment: 28 pages, 26 figures, resubmitted to A&A

We report the discovery of two hot Jupiters orbiting the stars EPIC229426032 and EPIC246067459. We used photometric data from Campaign 11 and 12 of the Kepler K2 Mission and radial velocity data obtained using the HARPS, FEROS, and CORALIE spectrographs. EPIC229426032 b and EPIC246067459 b have masses of $1.60^{+0.11}_{-0.11}$ and $0.86^{+0.13}_{-0.12}\,M_{\mathrm{Jup}}$, radii of $1.65^{+0.07}_{-0.08}$ and $1.30^{+0.15}_{-0.14}\,R{_\mathrm{Jup}}$, and are orbiting their host stars in 2.18 and 3.20-day orbits, respectively. The large radius of EPIC229426032 b leads us to conclude that this candidate corresponds to a highly inflated hot Jupiter. EPIC2460674559 b has a radius consistent with theoretical models, considering the high incident flux falling on the planet. We consider EPIC229426032 b to be a excellent system for follow-up studies, since not only is it very inflated, but it also orbits a relatively bright star ($V = 11.6$)., Comment: 12 pages, 12 plots, accepted in MNRAS

We report the discovery of a radial velocity signal that can be interpreted as a planetary-mass candidate orbiting the K dwarf HD26965, with an orbital period of 42.364$\pm$0.015 days, or alternatively, as the presence of residual, uncorrected rotational activity in the data. Observations include data from HIRES, PFS, CHIRON, and HARPS, where 1,111 measurements were made over 16 years. Our best solution for HD26965 $b$ is consistent with a super-Earth that has a minimum mass of 6.92$\pm$0.79 M$_{\oplus}$ orbiting at a distance of 0.215$\pm$0.008 AU from its host star. We have analyzed the correlation between spectral activity indicators and the radial velocities from each instrument, showing moderate correlations that we include in our model. From this analysis, we recover a $\sim$38 day signal, which matches some literature values of the stellar rotation period. However, from independent Mt. Wilson HK data for this star, we find evidence for a significant 42 day signal after subtraction of longer period magnetic cycles, casting doubt on the planetary hypothesis for this period. Although our statistical model strongly suggests that the 42-day signal is Doppler in origin, we conclude that the residual effects of stellar rotation are difficult to fully model and remove from this dataset, highlighting the difficulties to disentangle small planetary signals and photospheric noise, particularly when the orbital periods are close to the rotation period of the star. This study serves as an excellent test case for future works that aim to detect small planets orbiting `Sun-like' stars using radial velocity measurements., Comment: 16 pages, 10 figures, 13 tables, accepted for publication in AJ

Radial velocity observations from three instruments reveal the presence of a 4 M_jup planet candidate orbiting the K giant HD 76920. HD 76920b has an orbital eccentricity of 0.856$\pm$0.009, making it the most eccentric planet known to orbit an evolved star. There is no indication that HD 76920 has an unseen binary companion, suggesting a scattering event rather than Kozai oscillations as a probable culprit for the observed eccentricity. The candidate planet currently approaches to about four stellar radii from its host star, and is predicted to be engulfed on a $\sim$100 Myr timescale due to the combined effects of stellar evolution and tidal interactions., Comment: Accepted for publication in AJ

Proxima Centauri, the star closest to our Sun, is known to host at least one terrestrial planet candidate in a temperate orbit. Here we report the ALMA detection of the star at 1.3 mm wavelength and the discovery of a belt of dust orbiting around it at distances ranging between 1 and 4 au, approximately. Given the low luminosity of the Proxima Centauri star, we estimate a characteristic temperature of about 40 K for this dust, which might constitute the dust component of a small-scale analog to our solar system Kuiper belt. The estimated total mass, including dust and bodies up to 50 km in size, is of the order of 0.01 Earth masses, which is similar to that of the solar Kuiper belt. Our data also show a hint of warmer dust closer to the star. We also find signs of two additional features that might be associated with the Proxima Centauri system, which, however, still require further observations to be confirmed: an outer extremely cold (about 10 K) belt around the star at about 30 au, whose orbital plane is tilted about 45 degrees with respect to the plane of the sky; and additionally, we marginally detect a compact 1.3 mm emission source at a projected distance of about 1.2 arcsec from the star, whose nature is still unknown., Comment: 9 pages, 4 figures, accepted for publication in The Astrophysical Journal Letters

We describe the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), which is a ground-based project searching for transiting exoplanets orbiting bright stars. NGTS builds on the legacy of previous surveys, most notably WASP, and is designed to achieve higher photometric precision and hence find smaller planets than have previously been detected from the ground. It also operates in red light, maximising sensitivity to late K and early M dwarf stars. The survey specifications call for photometric precision of 0.1 per cent in red light over an instantaneous field of view of 100 square degrees, enabling the detection of Neptune-sized exoplanets around Sun-like stars and super-Earths around M dwarfs. The survey is carried out with a purpose-built facility at Cerro Paranal, Chile, which is the premier site of the European Southern Observatory (ESO). An array of twelve 20cm f/2.8 telescopes fitted with back-illuminated deep-depletion CCD cameras are used to survey fields intensively at intermediate Galactic latitudes. The instrument is also ideally suited to ground-based photometric follow-up of exoplanet candidates from space telescopes such as TESS, Gaia and PLATO. We present observations that combine precise autoguiding and the superb observing conditions at Paranal to provide routine photometric precision of 0.1 per cent in 1 hour for stars with I-band magnitudes brighter than 13. We describe the instrument and data analysis methods as well as the status of the survey, which achieved first light in 2015 and began full survey operations in 2016. NGTS data will be made publicly available through the ESO archive., Comment: 20 pages, 17 Figures, Accepted for publication in MNRAS

We present the discovery of NGTS-1b, a hot-Jupiter transiting an early M-dwarf host ($T_{eff}=3916^{+71}_{-63}~K$) in a P=2.674d orbit discovered as part of the Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS). The planet has a mass of $0.812^{+0.066}_{-0.075}~M_{J}$, making it the most massive planet ever discovered transiting an M-dwarf. The radius of the planet is $1.33^{+0.61}_{-0.33}~R_{J}$. Since the transit is grazing, we determine this radius by modelling the data and placing a prior on the density from the population of known gas giant planets. NGTS-1b is the third transiting giant planet found around an M-dwarf, reinforcing the notion that close-in gas giants can form and migrate similar to the known population of hot Jupiters around solar type stars. The host star shows no signs of activity, and the kinematics hint at the star being from the thick disk population. With a deep (2.5%) transit around a $K=11.9$ host, NGTS-1b will be a strong candidate to probe giant planet composition around M-dwarfs via JWST transmission spectroscopy., Comment: 10 pages, 7 figures, accepted for publication in MNRAS

We report results from lithium abundance determinations using high resolution spectral analysis of the 107 metal-rich stars from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search programme. We set out to understand the lithium distribution of the population of stars taken from this survey. The lithium abundance with account NLTE effects was determined from the fits to the Li I 6708 \AA~resonance doublet profiles in the observed spectra. We find that a) fast rotators tend to have higher lithium abundances, b) $\log$ N(Li) is higher in more massive/hot stars, c) $\log$ N(Li) is higher in less evolved stars, i.e. stars of lower \logg, d) stars with the metallicities $>$0.25~dex do not show the presence of lithium lines in their spectra, e) most of our planet hosts rotate slower, f) our estimate of a lower limit of lithium isotopic ratio is \Li $>$10 in the atmospheres of two SWP and two non-SWP stars. Measurable lithium abundances were found in the atmospheres of 45 stars located at distances of 20-170 pc from the Sun, for the other 62 stars the upper limits of log N(Li) were computed. We found well defined dependences of lithium abundances on \Teff, \vsini, and less pronounced for the \logg. In case of \vsini we see two sequences of stars: with measurable lithium and with the upper limit of log N(Li). About 10\% of our targets are known to host planets. Only two SWP have notable lithium abundances, so we found a lower proportion of stars with detectable Li among known planet hosts than among stars without planets. However, given the small sample size of our planet-host sample, our analysis does not show any statistically significant differences in the lithium abundance between SWP and stars without known planets., Comment: 19 pages, 6 tables, 13 figures, accepted by AA

The Next Generation Transit Survey (NGTS), operating in Paranal since 2016, is a wide-field survey to detect Neptunes and super-Earths transiting bright stars, which are suitable for precise radial velocity follow-up and characterisation. Thereby, its sub-mmag photometric precision and ability to identify false positives are crucial. Particularly, variable background objects blended in the photometric aperture frequently mimic Neptune-sized transits and are costly in follow-up time. These objects can best be identified with the centroiding technique: if the photometric flux is lost off-centre during an eclipse, the flux centroid shifts towards the centre of the target star. Although this method has successfully been employed by the Kepler mission, it has previously not been implemented from the ground. We present a fully-automated centroid vetting algorithm developed for NGTS, enabled by our high-precision auto-guiding. Our method allows detecting centroid shifts with an average precision of 0.75 milli-pixel, and down to 0.25 milli-pixel for specific targets, for a pixel size of 4.97 arcsec. The algorithm is now part of the NGTS candidate vetting pipeline and automatically employed for all detected signals. Further, we develop a joint Bayesian fitting model for all photometric and centroid data, allowing to disentangle which object (target or background) is causing the signal, and what its astrophysical parameters are. We demonstrate our method on two NGTS objects of interest. These achievements make NGTS the first ground-based wide-field transit survey ever to successfully apply the centroiding technique for automated candidate vetting, enabling the production of a robust candidate list before follow-up., Comment: Accepted for publication in MNRAS 25 Jul 2017. 15 pages, 15 figures, 3 tables. This is the authors' version of the manuscript

Although the majority of radial velocity detected planets have been found orbiting solar-type stars, a fraction of them have been discovered around giant stars. These planetary systems have revealed different orbital properties when compared to solar-type stars companions. In particular, radial velocity surveys have shown that there is a lack of giant planets in close-in orbits around giant stars, in contrast to the known population of hot-Jupiters orbiting solar-type stars. The reason of this distinctive feature in the semimajor-axis distribution has been theorized to be the result of the stellar evolution and/or due to the effect of a different formation/evolution scenario for planets around intermediate-mass stars. However, in the past few years, a handful of transiting short-period planets (P$\lesssim$ 10 days) have been found around giant stars, thanks to the high precision photometric data obtained initially by the Kepler mission, and later by its two-wheels extension K2. These new discoveries, have allowed us for the first time to study the orbital properties and physical parameters of these intriguing and elusive sub-stellar companions. In this paper we report on an independent discovery of a transiting planet in field 10 of the K2 mission, also reported recently by Grunblatt et al. (2017). The main orbital parameters of EPIC\,228754001\,$b$, obtained with all the available data for the system, are the following: $P$ = 9.1708 $\pm$ 0.0025 $d$, $e$ = 0.290 $\pm$ 0.049, Mp = 0.495 $\pm$ 0.007 Mjup \,and Rp = 1.089 $\pm$ 0.006 Rjup. This is the fifth known planet orbiting any giant star with $a < 0.1$, and the most eccentric one among them, making EPIC\,228754001\,$b$ a very interesting object., Comment: Submitted for publication to A&A

We present the discovery of EPIC 228735255b, a P= 6.57 days Jupiter-mass (M$_P$=1.019$\pm$0.070 M$_{Jup}$) planet transiting a V=12.5 (G5-spectral type) star in an eccentric orbit (e=$0.120^{+0.056}_{-0.046}$) detected using a combination of K2 photometry and ground-based observations. With a radius of 1.095$\pm$0.018R$_{Jup}$ the planet has a bulk density of 0.726$\pm$0.062$\rho_{Jup}$. The host star has a [Fe/H] of 0.12$\pm$0.045, and from the K2 light curve we find a rotation period for the star of 16.3$\pm$0.1 days. This discovery is the 9th hot Jupiter from K2 and highlights K2's ability to detect transiting giant planets at periods slightly longer than traditional, ground-based surveys. This planet is slightly inflated, but much less than others with similar incident fluxes. These are of interest for investigating the inflation mechanism of hot Jupiters., Comment: Submitted to MNRAS, 11 pages, 10 figures

We aim to understand how stellar parameters such as mass and rotation impact the distribution of starspots on the stellar surface. To this purpose, we have used Doppler imaging to reconstruct the surface brightness distributions of three fully convective M dwarfs with similar rotation rates. We secured high cadence spectral time series observations of the 5.5 AU separation binary GJ 65, comprising GJ 65A (M5.5V, Prot = 0.24 d) and GJ 65B (M6V, Prot = 0.23 d). We also present new observations of GJ 791.2A (M4.5V, Prot = 0.31 d). Observations of each star were made on two nights with UVES, covering a wavelength range from 0.64 - 1.03 microns. The time series spectra reveal multiple line distortions, which we interpret as cool starspots and which are persistent on both nights suggesting stability on the timescale of 3 days. Spots are recovered with resolutions down to 8.3 degs at the equator. The global spot distributions for GJ 791.2A are similar to observations made a year earlier. Similar high latitude and circumpolar spot structure is seen on GJ791.2A and GJ 65A. However, they are surprisingly absent on GJ 65B, which instead reveals more extensive, larger, spots concentrated at intermediate latitudes. All three stars show small amplitude latitude-dependent rotation that is consistent with solid body rotation. We compare our measurements of differential rotation with previous Doppler imaging studies and discuss the results in the wider context of other observational estimates and recent theoretical predictions., Comment: 14 pages, 7 figures

We report results from the high resolution spectral analysis of the 107 metal rich (mostly [Fe/H]$\ge$7.67 dex) target stars from the Calan-Hertfordshire Extrasolar Planet Search program observed with HARPS. Using our procedure of finding the best fit to the absorption line profiles in the observed spectra, we measure the abundances of Na, Mg, Al, Si, Ca, Ti, Cr, Mn, Fe, Ni, Cu, and Zn, and we then compare them with known results from different authors. Most of our abundances agree with these works at the level of $\pm$0.05 dex or better for the stars we have in common. However, we do find systematic differences that make direct inferences difficult. Our analysis suggests that the selection of line lists and atomic line data along with the adopted continuum level influence these differences the most. At the same time, we confirm the positive trends of abundances versus metallicity for Na, Mn, Ni, and to a lesser degree, Al. A slight negative trend is observed for Ca, whereas Si and Cr tend to follow iron. Our analysis allows us to determine the positively skewed normal distribution of projected rotational velocities with a maximum peaking at 3 km s$^{-1}$. Finally, we obtained a Gaussian distribution of microturbulent velocities that has a maximum at 1.2 km s$^{-1}$ and a full width at half maximum $\Delta v_{1/2}=$0.35 km s$^{-1}$, indicating that metal rich dwarfs and subgiants in our sample have a very restricted range in microturbulent velocity., Comment: To be published in the Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society

Past UV and optical observations of stars hosting hot Jupiters have shown that some of these stars present an anomalously low chromospheric activity, significantly below the basal level. For WASP-13, observations have shown that the apparent lack of activity is possibly caused by absorption from the intervening ISM. Inspired by this result, we study the effect of ISM absorption on activity measurements (S and logR'$_{\rm HK}$ indices) for main-sequence late-type stars. To this end, we employ synthetic stellar photospheric spectra combined with varying amounts of chromospheric emission and ISM absorption. We present the effect of ISM absorption on activity measurements by varying several instrumental, stellar, and ISM parameters. We find that for relative velocities between the stellar and ISM lines smaller than 30-40 km/s and for ISM CaII column densities logN$_{\rm CaII}$>12, the ISM absorption has a significant influence on activity measurements. Direct measurements and three dimensional maps of the Galactic ISM absorption indicate that an ISM CaII column density of logN$_{\rm CaII}$=12 is typically reached by a distance of about 100 pc along most sight lines. In particular, for a Sun-like star lying at a distance greater than 100 pc, we expect a depression (bias) in the logR'$_{\rm HK}$ value larger than 0.05-0.1 dex, about the same size as the typical measurement and calibration uncertainties on this parameter. This work shows that the bias introduced by ISM absorption must always be considered when measuring activity for stars lying beyond 100 pc. We also consider the effect of multiple ISM absorption components. We discuss the relevance of this result for exoplanet studies., Comment: Accepted for publication in A&A